To mechanically produce norimaki, there has been provided a cooked rice molding apparatus as shown in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-45129, for example. In this cooked rice molding apparatus, a rice mat which is formed by rolling sushi rice supplied from a hopper into a plate shape by use of a forming roller, is placed on a wrapping unit on a slide tray and is then rolled together with a sheet of laver and molded into a rod shape by deforming the wrapping unit into a cylindrical shape.
In recent years, people often eat sushi also in districts other than Japan. Also, eating practices peculiar to foreign countries have been developed. In the case of norimaki called the California roll, for example, the norimaki is rolled by placing a sheet of laver on a rice mat and then placing an ingredient on the sheet of laver.
According to the California roll, it is possible to add flair to new sushi because the sushi rice is rolled so as to face the outside. This kind of norimaki including the California roll is otherwise called an inside-out roll.
However, the above-described cooked rice molding apparatus is used to produce conventional norimaki in which the sushi rice is on the inner side and the laver is on the outer side, and cannot produce inside-out rolls which require delicate rolling techniques.
Therefore, conventionally, in making inside-out rolls, only a rice mat has been automatically made, with the wrapping unit removed from the slide tray, and the remaining work has been carried out manually. That is, a rice mat is spread over on the slide tray, a sheet of laver is placed on the rice mat, and the rice mat and the sheet of laver are caused to adhere to each other. Next, the rice mat is lifted up by hand, is taken onto another work table, ingredients are placed on the rice mat, and an inside-out roll is rolled by hand.
However, the conventional manufacturing process of inside-out rolls had problems as described below. That is, after the sheet of laver is placed on the rice mat, the two are caused to adhere to each other and hereafter moved onto a work table or the like. Therefore, during conveyance, inside-out rolls might loose their shapes or the cooked rice might fall. In temporarily storing a rice mat which has been made, the rice mat is placed on a wrap and the like, and another wrap is further placed on the rice mat to form a stack. However, the rice mat might be deformed by its own weight.
Hence, the present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and the object of the invention is to provide a cooked rice molding apparatus which enables a rice mat to be easily moved and to be stored.